Blast-furnace-charging apparatus.



No. 888,723. V A PATENTED MAY 26, 1908. 1]. I. MILLER.

BLAST FURNACE CHARGING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 30.1907.

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No. 888,723 PATENTEID MAY 26, 1908.

' 1). I. MILLER.

.BLAST FURNACE GHARGING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION I'ILED AUG. 30.1907.

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PATENTED MAY 26, 1908. v

n. I. MILLER.

BLAST PURNAQB CHARGING APPARATUS.

I APPLIGATIbN FILED AUG..30. 1907.

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DAVID I. MILLER, OF SHEFFIELD, ALABAMA.

BLAST-FURNACE-CHARGING- APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 26, 1908.

Application filed. August 30, 1907. Serial No. 390,796.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID I. MILLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Sheffield, in the county of Colbert and State of Alabama,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Blast-Furnace-Charging Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the fOllOWlIlg. to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertainsto make and use thesame.

My invention relates to that class of ap paratus commonly employed fortransferring a charging bridge track and an elevator track section, muchlabor is required, time lost and difhcult-y experienced 1n securing suchan 'alincment of the elevator track section and bridge track as willpermit thetransfcr of the stock car from the one to the other. In orderto overcome said diilicultics and to prevent loss of time and for thepurpose of securing a substantially uninterrupted track between theelevator section and the bridge track, nothwithstanding any want ofalinement between the two, I combine with the bridge track and elevatortrack section a movable or floating track section which is actuated bythe elevator, and such a combination embodies the main feature of myinvention.

' it is well understood by those skilled in blast furnace practice thatin order to obtain the best results in charging blast furnaces the stockwhen dumped from the car into the hopper of the furnace should be sodelivered over the apex of the bell as to be uniformly distributedaround the hopper, and to accom lish this I combine with an elevatedtrac which is centrally disposed with relation to the top of the blastfurnace and its hopper and bell, a hopper shaped charge distributor thatis interposed between the track and the blast furnace hopper; and such aconstruction embodies a second feat ure of my invention.

There are other, minor, features of invention, embracing particularcombinations and special features of elemental construction, all

as will hereinafter more fully appear.

In the drawings chosen for the purpose of illustrating my invention, thescope whereof is pointed out in the claims, Figure 1 is a view in sideelevation of charging apparatus embodying my invention, the upper ortionof a blast furnace, the bridge or c arging floor leading from the hoist,the elevated track for the stock cars and the upper poralso illustratedFig. 2 is a plan view of the blast furnace top, the hoists and theelevated track and bridge shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged view,partly in section, showing the hopper and bell of the blast furnace,means for raising and lowering the bell, the charge distributer, and thetrack, the stock car being illustrated in position for charging thefurnace; Fig. 4 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in section, ofthe upper portion of a blast furnace andportions of at right angles tothe section shown in Fig. 3,- Fig. 5 is an-enlarged plan view of the topof the blast furnace illustrating the relation of the distributor to thestack, the track rails being omitted; Fig. 6 is an enlarged .viewshowing in plan oneof the elevators, a portion of the bridge track, andthe intermediate movable or floating track section; and Fig. 7 is anenlarged side elevation of a portion of the elevator track, a portion ofthe bridge track, and the interposed floating track section.

Like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur.

I will now proceed to describe my invention more fully so that othersskilled inthe art to which it appertains may apply the same.

I In the drawings, A indicates the blast furnace top,B, B the hoists orelevator shafts, C the charging bridge which connects the hoists andblast furnace top, C the bridge track which leads from the elevator tothe distributer and which has its furnace end arranged over the blastfurnace top, D one of the elevators, and E a movable or floating tracksection which is interposed between the bridge track and elevator track.

T he to be providbd with the usual hopper 1 for recciving the charge andwith a suitable bell 2 for closing the hopper. erably suspended by linksor eyebars 2 om the bridge and track, the section being taken The bell 2is ref.

tion or upward extension of the holst, being A of the blast furnace isor may sup orts the be of the usual character; but the "the" ableframing, such as F, F.

' bars Swithsuitable levers whereby the hell 2 of the hqpfper may beraised or lowered at tion so supports the bell as to' leave the'vertical axis of the furnace unobstructed.

The levers which supportand controlthe hell 2 may be pivotally mountedon any suit- Framing G G also erected on the top of the blast filrnaceI-boams 6 on which are laid the trac rails C, and said I-bcams 6 alsosupport the distributer 7 which latter is stayed and braced by the rods6". Owing -.to the manner of suspending the hell 2, the track may beextended over, and disposed centrally with relation to, said bell andthe hop per 1 of the blast furnace to 7 indicates the charge distributorthe function of which is to receiv'ethe charge of stock when the car isdumped'andso direct it intothe hopper 1 that it shall be-uniformly distributed therein around the spear of the bell 2. This charge distributer7 may be in the form of a truncated hollow cone; but is preferably inthe form of 'a truncated hollow pyramid. It may stayed bymet'al braces 8secured to the Lbcams 6 which'form a support for those portions of thetrackrails C that extend over the equalizin beam. 3 and between theeye-bars 3. v By t is construction the center of the distributor 7 isbrought directly under the centerof the car containing the charge anddirectly over theapex of the bell 2, thus facilitating the uniformdistribution of the charge in the hopper lot the blast furnace;

The charging bridge C which connects the hoists B with the blast-furnaceto A may, eight of the hoist above the bridge is increased so that theelevator may rise above said bridge 0 a distance equal to, orsubstantially equal to, the height above the furnace hopper 1 of lent,

. the distributor 7' and its supports.

The elevated bridge track C having branches 0 ,0, leads 03 from thehoist tower at the point where the elevators land, as heightened, andextends to and over the top of the blast frunace. The several tracks aresupported above the bridge C by suitable trestles C Opposite the end-ofsaid track G is located a spring buflerc, or its equivastock car with.relation to the distributor 7 and hopper 1, when the movement of thestock car is arrested. This bridge track 0 which is supported above thebridge C on trestles C as before noted, may be a sin le straight trackin case a single hoist and e evator are employed; but in case twinhoists are used, as commonly occurs, and as shown the operator; Such" aconstruc= in the drawings, then the main track 0 will connect by meansof a suitable switch with l track section D on which thestock car, whenloaded, is pushed from the stock floor. During the movementof theelevator the car is held in fixed positionthereon by any suitable orwell known means.

,E indicates a section of movable orfloating track which is adapted tospan the gap between the elevator D and the bridge-track C',.or itsbranches 0 ,13 as the case may be.'

This movable or floating track may be of any be constructed of platesraced by angle firons, andis preferably which insures the properposition of the suitable constructionand manner of suspen- $1011, but 1spicked up preferably devised so as tobe I and held by the elevator onits ascent, and released when the elevator descends.

In the application trated in the drawings, ing track section E is shownas supportedby a steel plate or plates- E hinged, as at E, to the marginof the platform P adjacent to the hoists B and B, said plate orplatesprojecting as at e, 6 into the path of the-elevator D of my inventionillusand being reinforced byT iron stifieners e, e, f

but if desired the floating rail support may be of an other desiredcharacter.

It 1s to be noted that in conjunction with the hereinbeiore described aparatus or ar 'rangement of tracks, hoists, *c., the stock cars employedwill generally be of the sidedump pattern, asindicated by the dottedlines at 10, Fig.3 of the drawings, and in ase the curved branch tracksC, O are used vith a twin hoist, as indicated in Fig. 2, it will bedesirable to employ cars having flexible running gear, in order toenable said cars to run around curves of short radius.

Where there are no curves sufficiently shar to necessitate the use ofcars having a flexi le wheel base, the stock cars may be bottom dumpinginstead of side-dumping.

The construction of the'hoists, elevators,

tracks, floating track section, and distributer,

and their arrangement relative to each other and to the'top oi the blastfurnace, bein substantially such as hereinbefore pointe ou, they will,in. charging theiurnace, be oper' tivo as follows:

A car or tram which has been loaded on the stock floor at the foot ofthe hoist or elevator shaft B is locked in place on the track D of oneof the elevators D at the bottom of the elevator shaft, and thetop-charger by the usual means of a hoiste'ngine raises the load to aoint above the bridge C and as near as possl le to the level of thebridge track C, or

its branches C C, as the case may be. As

the loaded elevator approaches the level of l the bridge track it picksup the section of i movable or floating track E by enga ing the iprojections e, e of the plate E, which serves to make a joint betweenthe bridge track and l the elevator track D The intervening spacebetween the bridge track and the elevator track is thus effectually sanned, noti withstanding the elevator may 0 somewhat i above or evebelow the level of the bridge track. N 0 time or labor is lost inalining the bridge track and elevator track, and the passage of the carfrom the elevator' to the bridge track is rendered eas The loaded car isthen ushed from the e evator track to I one ot'the ranches of the bridgetrack from 1 which it may be switched to the main bridgetrack. Theloaded car asses over the latter 1 until arrested above t e distributer7 into I which the charge is dum ed, being uniformly l distributedthereby in t e hopper 1 around the apex of bell 2. Theem t-y car is thenpushed back to the elevator E and In 0 erating twin elevators an emptycar will escend on one elevator while a loaded Having thus described myinvention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a blast Furnace charging the combination of a blast furnace havinga hopper and bell, a charging bridge, a horizontally disposed trackcharging bridge and projecting over the blast furnace hopper, a chargedistributer interposed between the elevated t'rack and the blast furnaceho per, an elevator having a track sectiomani a movable or floatingtrack 2. In a blast furnace charging apparatus, of a blast furnacehaving a hopper and bell, a charging bridge, a track elevated above thecharging bridge and projecting over the blast furnace hop er, a chargedistributer arranged between t e elevated track and the blast furnacehopper, and an elevator arranged adjacent to the said elevated track Intestimony whereof I aflix my signature, presence of two subscribingwitnesses.

DAVID I. MILLER. Witnesses i Tnos. L. PATToN, JOHN McKENnRIoK.

apparatus,

elevated above the

